We are pleased to announce the launch of the Roswell Provisions website!

From the owners of Party Chic by KellyKakes, Roswell Provisions is a slice of old school America with a European flair brought to you in a community market. This is our third website with Kelly and Lorry….thanks, ladies!

WordPress is a wonderful platform–it’s open-source (translation:practically free), it has fantastic SEO benefits right out of the box, it makes it easy for non-technical users to manage their content without running to their web developer every other day. It’s estimated that 15% of the internet runs on WordPress. However, because it is so popular, evil hackers are ALWAYS trying to find and exploit vulnerabilities in the code in order to hack your site.

What’s the solution?

We should assume that the assault by hackers will never stop. The best approach is to throw  roadblocks up that make it more difficult for your site to be hacked. One of the most important of these roadblocks is to always be running the latest version of WordPress, especially if the latest version was a security update release.

Other best practices are:

• Don’t have your login id be “admin” — this is like freely handing over one of the keys to your website. Don’t make it easy for them!
• Change your password periodically.
• Use a robots.txt file to ask search engines to NOT index the admin area. Some hacks use the power of Google to auto-locate vulnerable Admin panels. If your admin panel has not been indexed, it decreases the chances of it being found by hackers.
• Don’t have a link to your WordPress Admin login page on your site if you can help it. For some membership based sites, this is unavoidable, but if you have a ‘convenience’ link to your Admin login page, say in the footer of your site, you should remove it. Just bookmark the login page.
• You may consider using a security service such as Sucuri, to run periodic scans on your website. This doesn’t prevent hacks, but it will notify you immediately if your site has been hacked before the site has time to be blacklisted or flagged by Google as containing malware. These services notify you when your WP version is out of date, and they will also restore your site after a hack.
• And to reiterate, always be running the latest version of WordPress, especially if the latest version was a security update release. As of the date of this post, the latest version is 3.3.1. When you login to your WordPress, you will get a reminder at the top of the dashboard nagging you to update to the latest version. THIS IS IMPORTANT: You must ensure you have proper backups prior to executing the auto-upgrade. Please contact us to schedule an upgrade, unless you know how to back up your site.  If you don’t have a login and just aren’t sure about any of this, contact us and we can review the site and let you know if you need an upgrade.

SangFroid Web partners with Sucuri to offer website monitoring for unauthorized changes to websites.

For any of you who manage a Facebook business page, you may have been greeted recently by a notification to preview or upgrade to the new Timeline version (You may already have Timeline for your personal Facebook profiles). I recently took the preview tour of the page. Here is a summary of the changes that are coming soon to all business pages. These changes will become mandatory on all pages starting March 30, 2012.

Your Cover Photo

Your cover photo is the first thing people will see when they visit your Page. It’s the large banner image. Facebook tells us to choose a unique photo and change it as often as you like. What’s interesting is that Facebook has explicitly spelled out some restrictions for what your Cover Photo can NOT contain, namely:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

This means the obvious marketing is restricted to the Apps section (more on Apps below). Cover photos need to be at least 399 pixels wide. The visual size of the Cover Photo is 315px X 851px, but since the quality is reduced upon upload to Facebook, using a canvas of 1250px X 463 to design the cover photo works well.

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Facebook also notes that “Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.”

Adjust your profile picture

“Your profile picture represents your Page on other parts of Facebook, like in news feed. Use your logo or another image that represents your Page. Choose an image that’s square and at least 180 pixels wide.”

This is a big change for those of us that have custom profile pics that are 600 pixels tall with lots of additional information like contact information.

Photos, Likes and Apps

Photos, likes and apps are now at the top of your Page. Photos show in the first spot, but you can change the order of everything else. You can show a maximum number of 12 apps, so make sure to put your most important ones first.

The width for Facebook App tabs has increased to 810 pixels wide, so you may find that you want to have any custom App tabs you may have adjusted so that they look better in the wider width.

Timeline

In addition to framing the regular Facebook items that would appear in your feed in a timeline, the Timeline also lets you show the history of the business or brand. Take a look at the Tiffany Facebook page (which is a Brand page that uses Timeline) and you can see how they have really made the most of the Timeline feature by adding graphics that tell the story of the brand…..all the way back to 1837!  Use the Timeline dates on the right side of the screen to navigate back in time.

Feature an Item in the Timeline

To feature an item in the Timeline, hover over a story and click on the star ( star icon ) to make it wider. Hover and click on the pencil ( pencil icon ) to pin it to the top of your Page, hide or delete it entirely.

Admin Panel

The Admin Panel is at the top of the page and can be conveniently toggled from open to hidden. You can see and do all of the usual page administration here such as seeing notifications, seeing new Likes, and viewing page ‘Insights’ which show analytics for the page. Visit your activity log to review all your posts and activity.

New – Respond privately with messages!

Now people can contact you privately using messages. Notifications about new messages will appear in your admin panel.

Summary

These changes go into effect on March 20, 2012, so you should take time to preview (and publish if you want) your business’s page before then so you don’t find yourself with a missing cover photo and App tabs that need adjusting.

• LVCounseling.com
• On-Target.com
• GRCKnows.com
• MillFac.com (with partner FirstAid Computers)

If you are using the blogging function of your WordPress site, you can automate the syndication of your blog posts to your various social profiles such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. In this article, we go over how to connect your blog to LinkedIn so that your posts will automatically appear on your LinkedIn profile after being published on your blog.

(To feed your blog posts to Facebook and Twitter, we recommend using the free Twitterfeed service about which we don’t go into detail here. It’s free and easy. Try it, you’ll like it.)

1. From your LinkedIn profile, navigate to “More” and then click on “Get More Applications…”.

2. From the applications page, scroll down until you see the WordPress application. Click on the icon to start the installation.

3. On the installation page, check the boxes to display the blog on both your LinkedIn homepage and on your LinkedIn profile. Click the “Add Application” button to install the application.

4. The next page is where you will enter the URL to your WordPress site.

It’s not necessary to enter the link to your RSS feed if you don’t know it, LinkedIn will detect your RSS feed from the main URL of the site. Select whether you want to display all recent posts or only the recent posts that are tagged with ‘linkedin’.

You may want to specifically control the posts that are allowed to post to LinkedIn by choosing to only allow posts that are tagged with the LinkedIn-specific tag of ‘linkedin‘. When composing posts on your site, if you would like them to post to your LinkedIn profile, then just be sure to tag them with ‘linkedin‘.

5. Verify the blog posts are feeding to your LinkedIn profile.

Go to your profile and your posts should be appearing underneath the summary of your information. That’s it. Done.

Uninstalling the application

If you ever need to stop the blog posts from posting to your LinkedIn profile, the application is easily uninstalled. All you need to do is:

1. Go to More, Get More Applications
2. Scroll to find the WordPress icon and click on it
3. Click on the Remove button in the bottom right next to the Update Settings button

We are pleased and proud to announce the launch of the redesigned site for Preferred – Data | Voice | Networks, formerly Preferred Telephone of Baton Rouge. This website was engineered in conjunction with our partner, Baton Rouge web design company aeTechnology. We originally designed the Preferred Telephone site back in 2007, and it was a privilege to be given the opportunity to grow with Preferred as they expanded their product offering and began operating under a new name.

Preferred designs innovative communication options for customers to reduce costs and increase productivity. They have built a team of knowledgeable and highly trained personnel, focusing on customer needs for today and into the future.

Our latest WordPress website gives our customer control over their content, allowing them to present timely information to their customers. The blog functionality was implemented for the Company News page.

Showcase Your Latest Photos

Showcase Your Latest Photos

• The most recent photos that you post to your Wall or photos that you tag your Page in will appear at the top of the page exactly as they do in the new personal profiles. This area will not include any photos posted by your fans.
• To hide a photo, roll over it and click X.

For good or bad, the new fan page style is being made to resemble a personal profile by putting things where the user expects them to be on a personal profile. The photos across the top of the profile can be really great if you have relevant photos to post, such as for a portfolio, but for some businesses, featuring photos at the top of the page might not make sense. The good news is that you have complete control over what images appear there, so no spammy images allowed.

Navigation is now on the left as in personal profiles

Navigation Where People Expect It

Navigation links are now on the left, just like on people’s profiles.

This may be the toughest change to get used to because it means there are no longer going to be the familiar ‘tabs’ to which we are so accustomed. The top of the page was a prime location for the navigation, so it will take some adjustment and will be interesting to see if traffic to the tabs decreases.

As with individual profiles, there is no longer an “info box” displayed below the profile picture.

Wall Filters

Show the Top Posts on Your Wall

• You now have two Wall filters. You can show posts by your page and top posts from Everyone, a new way for people to see the most interesting stories first. As an admin, you’ll have additional filters for viewing posts on your page.
• To set a default filter for your Wall, go to Edit Page.

As an admin needing to manage the page, you can select the ‘Admin View’ and still see the posts in chronological order. This makes it harder for spam to go unnoticed at the bottom of the page.

Use Facebook as a Page

Use Facebook as Your Page

• You now have the flexibility to interact with the other areas of Facebook as a page.
• Get notifications when fans interact with your page or posts
• See activity from the pages you like in your news feed
• Like other pages and feature them on your page
• Make comments as your page on other pages
• To try this new feature, you can go to Account above and select Use Facebook as Page.

Previously, the only way to interact as the fan page was on the fan page itself through comments and posts, etc. Now, it is possible to interact on Facebook AS the fan page.

While you still can’t post to personal Facebook profiles as a Page, you can post to other Pages as a Page. This can be useful, but should be used scrupulously so as not to confuse matters. Always make sure that before you post to a Page that you are in the proper mode (human or fan page). Potential scenarios where using this functionality would be very appropriate might be when running cross-promotions with other businesses, sponsoring an event or supporting a charity.

New Settings

New settings

• You can set defaults for your email notifications and how you post to your page – as yourself or your page. You can also select which featured pages appear in the left column.
• To manage your settings for email and posting preferences, go to Edit Page and Your Settings. To select which pages appear in Likes, go to Edit Page and Featured.

These changes will become mandatory on all pages starting March 10, 2011. Learn more about the upgraded pages here.

We’ve been unbelievably busy working on lots of new sites and adding/maintaining our current customers’ sites. We are working hard and getting creative to keep up with the growth. Thank you to all of our clients — we truly appreciate your business and continued support.

We recently finished websites for High Capacity Leaders, Kelly Kakes, CBI Sunbelt Business Sales – Mergers and Acquisitions, and Redwood Wealth Management.

Facebook is no longer supporting Application Tabs on Personal or Business Profiles. Facebook Fan Pages

Facebook has stopped supporting adding Application Tabs to Facebook Profiles as of October 13th. They’ve also announced that as of November 3rd, 2010, they will begin deleting existing application tabs from all Profiles.

If you have installed the Constant Contact “Join My List”  Tab on your personal Facebook Profile, this Tab will likely be removed by Facebook soon, so we encourage you to create a Facebook Fan Page instead and install it there.

If you need help adding the “Join My List” tab to your new Facebook Fan Page, read the Constant Contact FAQ, or give them a call. They will be happy to help you through the process. Or, contact us if you would like to have us help you with your social media initiatives.

Constant Contact has updated their Facebook Application with customization features!

We’re excited to announce a great update to the Constant Contact Facebook Application – the ability to include a company logo and your own message on the “Join My List” form. You can read about this update on the Constant Contact Labs Blog.

Customize your “mini thumbnail”

You can customize what section of your larger profile image appears as the “mini thumbnail” by clicking on “Edit Your Profile Picture” and then selecting “Edit Thumbnail.

Custom Facebook Business Page Profile Graphic

Create a custom graphic for your business profile

Did you know that your Facebook profile graphic can be up to 200 pixels wide and 600 pixels tall? Businesses can take advantage of this extra space to include contact information, taglines and slogans.

We recently created this Facebook profile image for our client BodiFresh™ which includes their logo, product image, tagline and contact information.

Secure a Vanity Username

If your page has at least 25 fans, you can secure a custom ‘vanity username’ for your Facebook page. This means your Facebook  business page can have a URL like www. facebook.com/sangfroidweb instead of www.facebook.com/pages/SangFroid-Web-Design/106051112765235.

If you are an administrator of a Facebook Page, you can choose your username at www.facebook.com/username just like a user selecting a username for their profile. On this page, there is a link to “Set a username for your Pages” underneath where you set your own personal username.

For more information on Facebook business pages, visit the Facebook Help Center page concerning business pages.

Add Custom Tabs

Businesses can use custom Facebook tabs to communicate additional information to their customers. Examples of this include highlighting special offers, listing store locations, or offering an email list sign up to name just a few.

Next week, Facebook will be implementing some changes to the general Facebook business page layout to include:

1. Boxes are going away, including the Boxes tab; and
2. All custom tabs will be narrowed to 520 pixels. If you have a custom tab, we recommend you visit your tab now for a preview of how your content fits in the new layout — please make adjustments as needed. The rest of Facebook will see the old tab width until August 23.

If you have an existing Facebook business page with custom tabs, review your tabs in the new layout to be sure the information will still look acceptable.

Happy Facebooking!